Tip #1. Face Off
Forget what it says on the tube; face cream doesn't stop at your face. Start getting into the habit of rubbing your cream not only into your face but down your neck and your décolletage too. These areas are the first to be affected by gravity as you get older and in the end, your skin will thank you for keeping this precious skin hydrated.
As this area has a tendency to dryness we recommend hydrating products like Eucerin Aquaporin Active or Garnier Hydramatch. L'Oréal Revitalift also has a specialist product for face, contours and neck in its range.
Tip #2. Thread It
You've been waxing your eyebrows for years without complaint but this is ruining your eye area in the long term. The stress of the hot wax and ripping motion on your thin and sensitive eye area can cause droopiness and speed up the ageing process. Switch up your routine for threading, which doesn't require any pulling of your skin, and keep the crow's feet at bay.
Tip# 3. It's Always Sunny
When it comes to eye protection sunglasses are not something you want to save your money on. Those cheap yet chic sunnies that tempt you from the side of the road make you look cool but are doing serious damage to your eyes. Always choose sunglasses with UV protection to avoid damage to your eye sight, yellow spots on your eyes and worse. And another thing: sunglasses prevent you from squinting, which make the wrinkles around your eyes worse.
Tip #4. Sun Cream: Not Optional
Get out of the habit of only applying sun cream when you're hitting the beach and get into the routine of applying it every morning. If you don't do this because you think you don't need it as you work indoors all day, think about the walk to your car, the sun through your car windows, popping out on your lunch break etc. Basically, any time that you're even a little bit exposed to the sun you need to be protected.
Our product picks: BioNike Defence Sun SPF50 and Eucerin Sun Fluid Mattifying SPF50 for Face.
Tip #5. All Eyes
The best cure is prevention so don't wait for your inevitable eye wrinkles to appear before you start treating them; start using an eye cream daily now (try Avène PhysioLift Eye Cream). This will constantly add moisture to your skin and hydrated skin looks plumper, making wrinkles less prominent when you're older.
Related: How to Seriously Improve Your Skincare Routine in a Few Easy Steps
Tip #6. No Spots
A lot of people who suffer from adult acne wait it out hoping that it will go away with age. While most women's acne calms down eventually, the scars suffered by your skin from it will be there forever. Minimise the chances of permanent scarring by getting a prescription treatment from your derm ASAP.
Tip #7. Handle With Care
No matter how youthful you look up top your hands are always a giveaway as this is where discolouration, dark spots and general loose skin tends to show up first. Carry a nourishing and hydrating hand cream everywhere you go and get into the habit of rubbing it in throughout the day (try Good Stuff Bee Natural Hand Cream). Don't forget the sun cream: this will keep freckles and spots at bay while the moisturiser plumps up your skin.
Tip #8. Quit Smoking
A shocking number of women are still smoking cigarettes. Smoking adds fine lines around your mouth area, stains your teeth and fingernails yellow, is terrible for your skin, and that's just what it's doing to your outside. Kick the habit while you’re young and your body is more adaptable to change.
Tip #9. Face Off
Many of us are unintentionally deepening wrinkles to our faces every day. Consider the way you frown, raise your eyebrows, or wrinkle your nose; as you get older these habits can form permanent lines on our faces. Take note of your worst habits, such as frowning too deeply, and remind yourself to soften your face every time you catch yourself doing it.
Tip #10. Save Your Chest
You'll notice older women often have wrinkles on their chest, especially in the cleavage area, and studies have found that one of the biggest causes of this effect is how you sleep. When you sleep curled up on your side gravity pushes your breasts together and the skin on your chest downwards. Start training yourself to sleep on your back (we find placing a pillow on either side of you helps) to decrease the amount of lines on your chest.
Tip #11. Beauty Sleep
There aren't enough hours in the day to do all the really beneficial beauty treatments we'd like, such as hair treatments, facemasks and deep moisturising sessions. Now's the time to get literal with the phrase 'beauty sleep' - get diligent about applying a super rich night cream to your face, eye cream on your eye area, moisturiser to your chest area and thick moisturiser on your dry areas like feet and elbows.
This is the perfect time to allow all the products that are too thick to use during the daytime to really sink in and get to work. Our product picks: Olay Regenerist Night Cream and Happy Feet Lotion.
Related: How Too Little Sleep Can Mess with Your Skin, Body - And Day
Tip #12. Hair Goals
We rarely think long-term when it comes to hair care because we want that instant gratification. Stop taking shortcuts to get the hair you want right now and start planning for the hair you want forever. Never allow yourself to skip on the heat protecting spray (sure, it doesn’t make your hair look any better today but your hair will thank you in the long run). Both Schwarzkopf and ghd have good heat protecting styling sprays.
Develop good habits like using a thick tooth comb every time you condition your hair, committing to that 20-minute hair mask every week (try L'Oreal or Redken), and only using high quality heating tools.
Tip #13. Sleep Well
There's so much socialising, work and light night Instagram scrolling to be done, and you can always get settled into a regular sleep pattern when you're older, right? Wrong, a lack of sleep has long-term side effects, not least of all being your skin, which will appear grey and listless with dark circles under your eye area. Make your 8 hours a night non-negotiable now to set you on the right track for the future.
Tip #14. Get The Greys
If you start greying early on in life don't panic; rather get practical. Grey hairs are harder to dye so use a shade that is a bit darker than your natural hair colour. If your roots are greying use this darker shade on your root area to cover them up and give you a beautifully subtle ombré look. Or if you're feeling adventurous, go with the flow with an all over grey ombré and rock the trend.
Tip #15. Switch Up Your Towel
Your usual way of drying your hair with a bath towel could be causing frizz and breaking your hairs. Instead of vigorous rubbing go for patting motions to absorb the water, or use a non-friction fabric, like cotton or jersey T-Shirt, or a piece of paper towel.
Related: 7 Easy Ways Guaranteed to Help You Get Longer, Stronger Hair
Tip #16. Know Yourself
Go and get a consultation from a specialist beauty counter (like MAC) to learn once and for all what colours suit you, which formulas suit your skin and what make up you should just avoid. The sooner you learn what works best for you the less photos you'll look back on and cringe!
Tip #17. D.I.Y.
Take the time now to learn how to do some of your beauty treatments yourself. Perfect the art of plucking your own eyebrows (try the funky Essence Tweezers), waxing your legs yourself, dyeing your own eyelashes with Julienne Permascara, giving yourself the dream manicure and you'll save thousands in the years to come. Some things, however, should always be left to the professionals; no one has truly nailed dyeing their own hair blonde after all.
Tip #18. Simplify Anti-Ageing
If you're so overwhelmed the sheer volume of anti-ageing miracle products out there that it's put you off even trying them we've got a simple solution: ignore all the fancy packaging and just look for the ingredient 'retinol'. Retinol stimulates cell rejuvenation, plumps up skin where wrinkles occur and helps to retain collagen in the skin: just what you need! Two options we recommend are BioNike Defence Xage and L'Oréal Revitalift Night Cream.
Tip #19. Perfect Parting
Parting your hair on the 'right' side makes a huge difference to how your face looks so it's worth taking the time to get it right. Look in a mirror and cover one half of your face and examine it, then do the same on the other side. The side with the better features (bolder brow, bigger eye) should be the side you part your hair (this way extra hair falls on your less symmetrical side).
Tip #20. Find Your Red
It's a trend that will never die so it's high time you discovered your signature red lippie. Get a consultation from a make up artist who will take into consideration your skin tone, undertones, hair colour and more to find you the perfect shade of red that will make you look instantly sexier and more confident, no matter your age.
Our product picks: Palladio Matte Lipstick in Coral, Yardley Supermoist Plus Lipstick in Fiery Red and Essence Long Lasting Lipstick in Tres Chic 21.
Related: Finding the Most Awesome Red Lipstick for You Is Actually Easy